


Cranberry

by Tayani



Series: Witch AU [3]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Christmas fic, Fluff, M/M, Magic, Witch AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 02:45:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17133575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tayani/pseuds/Tayani
Summary: Goro seems to be scheming something, and it's just a few days before Christmas.





	Cranberry

Goro has been acting strangely lately.

Akira wondered if it was somehow his fault. First, there was the peppermint mishap which, admittedly, ultimately lead to them discovering a much better potion, but still. And then, few weeks after that, Akira has been trying to recreate one of the more tricky potions Goro had taught him about, only for the whole endeavour to end in a grand fiasco.

The raven was doing surprisingly well, and Goro had just left him to finish the potion up by himself when a slight mispronunciation of the incantation made it blow up right into Akira’s face, lighting his hair on fire.

He has been so stunned by the sudden explosion he didn’t even realize – not until Goro poured a whole bucket of water over him and yelled at him for not being careful – and for covering their newly-repaired and cleaned kitchen in soot.

Ever since then, Akira has been only let into the kitchen to clean it, and that was his task for the next few days, while Goro studied quietly by himself and squinted at him grumpily whenever the younger witch tried to talk to him. Akira was miserable, and yet Goro was stubborn in upholding his punishment, even as Morgana and Merla both stood up for the raven, trying to convince Goro that no matter how awful Akira’s potions were, at least he was the better cook in the house.

Somehow, that didn’t make Goro any less grumpy.

It wasn’t just that he wasn’t allowed in the kitchen now, either. Goro has been sending Akira to do all sorts of errands, usually to gather rare and barely-in-season herbs for which he either needed to walk through the forest for hours on end or fly to the other side of the lake and back, often accompanied by their two familiars.

Whenever Akira was home, _Goro_ would go out for solo trips to the town or to the forest, and refuse to take Akira with him, citing that the raven had to already be tired from his work and insisting on going alone.

The first two days, Akira marked it all up to coincidence. By the end of the week, he was certain Goro was avoiding him, and were it not for the hugs and kisses they still readily exchanged in the evenings, he would have been crying himself to sleep by now.

It had lasted all the way up until Christmas Eve. Despite Goro’s insisting they didn’t need to celebrate the holiday, Akira kept track of the calendar and couldn’t help but feel some disappointment as they had neared the date and Goro’s disposition towards it didn’t seem to change.

Still, the day before the Christmas Eve, Akira has been pulled into their bed and snuggled to, and he thought to himself, with a little smile as Goro allowed him a little goodnight kiss, that though he might not be allowed to celebrate Christmas properly, at least he will spend it with someone he truly, deeply loved, for once.

That in itself was enough to be grateful for.

He has woken up before dawn; to the feeling of Goro sneakily leaving his arms. The other witch calmed him down with a kiss that tasted of honey, and which Akira managed to think tasted way too suspiciously of sleep potion to be a coincidence before falling asleep again.

When he woke up the second time, it was to their home being completely transformed.

Colourful garlands have been spread around their small, wooden hut. There was a small Christmas tree in the corner, decorated with little baubles of light and making everything smell of pine and snow. There was a tray with cranberry tarts, still hot and steaming from the oven, near Akira’s bed – he loved cranberries, but had no idea how Goro got these, since it wasn’t a season for them. Beside the tray, there was a steaming mug of coffee and a vase with beautiful flowers; and by the fireplace, Goro sat, cross-legged, in one of his prettier robes, working on something that Akira was pretty sure was a _Merry Christmas_ sign which the other witch tried to make out of tinsel, but had troubles with, as the _r_ ’s in _Merry_ kept falling off.

Slowly, Akira felt himself smile as his eyes watered. Now he remembered how – just before the mishap with his potion – they had a discussion about celebrating Christmas – Akira proposing they do, together, because neither in his village nor after discovering his magic has he ever celebrated Christmas. Goro had scoffed at him, telling him it was still November back then, and anyway, he never celebrated Christmas before, either, so why break the pleasant tradition of not bothering with it.

That was when Akira mentioned he doesn’t even know when his own birthday really was, and celebrating Christmas with someone he loved could have compensated for that – and then his potion blew up, and all other conversation topics have been firmly driven away from his mind. Goro… he must have thought about this for long, long afterwards. He must have researched, how does one celebrate such a thing as Christmas. He must have went to the town, again and again, to make preparations; go to all this trouble, even find cranberries to give Akira a treat… and all of that, for him…

“…Goro?” Akira whispered, slipping from under the furs, careful not to wake up Morgana, who was sleeping on top of the covers. Goro turned quickly to look at him, ears turning pink – and only growing pinker as he saw Akira near him.

“A-Akira! Good morning, um… you were not supposed to wake up for a little more, I still hadn’t… well anyway, don’t think it’s something special, alright? It’s December now, and I thought… I mean, since…”

Akira didn’t let him finish. He was pulling the other witch up from his sitting position and kissing him, trying to convey everything he had felt at the moment through that kiss. By the time they were done, Goro was not the only one with his ears burning; and Akira wasn’t the only one who had a dopey smile on his lips.

Especially when he saw that somehow, somewhere during their kiss, the stubborn _Merry Christmas_ sign Goro was working on turned into a heart-shaped wreath.

“…I think I’m not the only one with troubles controlling their magic around here.” Akira purred, kissing the tip of Goro’s nose and dodging a smack the other witch tried to land on his head.

“…shut up and eat your breakfast.” Goro huffed, though he was smiling as he picked up the wreath, looked at it critically and shrugging, hanging it over on the  door. Akira grinned and reached for one of the tarts.

“…thank you, Goro.” he murmured, biting into it. It was delicious.

“…well. As I said… I never celebrated Christmas, either.” Goro murmured quietly, walking close to Akira and hugging him from behind. “…and you know what? We’ll celebrate your birthday on the day you fell in here, from now on. How does that sound?”

“Perfect.” Akira grinned, leaning into the touch. Then, he perked up at a thought. “Wait, does that mean I’m not banned from kitchen anymore?”

“Will you explode another potion in there if I lift the ban? Yes. Which means, you’re working in the outside kitchen from now on.”

“Oh _come on_ …”

They continued to bicker, and kiss, and feed each other cranberry pies and coffee; and Akira smiled, as he looked around their little Christmas hut which Goro had prepared and decorated in secret, just to make him smile.

To love, and be loved by someone so sweetly, for them to go to so much trouble, just to see you smile…

Goro had spent hours and hour teaching Akira of all sorts of magic. And yet, right there, with his lover laughing at something he had said and wiping a bit of cranberry filling off of his nose, Akira thought there could not possibly be magic stronger than what he felt right now.

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas!
> 
> This story is for [Alex](https://twitter.com/maruitenshi)!
> 
> If you like my stories, you can find me on twitter [@mikan_writings](https://twitter.com/mikan_writings) and/or tumblr at [mikan_writings](https://mikan-writings.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
